In many business or warehouse environments, there is a loading dock available for delivery trucks to pull u next to for loading or unloading. A typical loading dock is an extension of the building floor through an opening in the side wall and, among other features, can have a dock ledge and bumper strip about as wide as the rear end of the trailers that make deliveries. The driver backs the trailer up to the edge of the loading dock and the loading or unloading operations start.
A common piece of equipment found wherever a loading dock exists is a dock plate or dock board, a device made from heavy gauge aluminum and designed to bridge the gap between the end of the trailer and the edge of the loading dock. In many cases, this gap could be anywhere from six to twelve inches, which would prevent any wheeled loading equipment, such as dollies or forklifts, from moving heavy materials on or off the trailer. In addition to this spatial separation, there quite often is an elevational difference between the two platforms. Dock plates can weigh anywhere up from to two or four hundred pounds and can be up to six feet in length by six feet in width and they are meant to be stored out of the way of the loading dock until needed.
The problem with this system is that it is necessary to move this heavy and awkward dock board in and out of a particular dock as the delivery trucks arrive and depart. In many situations, this means taking two men from their normal duties and causing them to handle this task, not a very efficient use of manpower. In certain cases, it was found to be necessary to build a mechanical system with a dock board right into the loading dock area and then, one person could activate the mechanism as necessary. This might not prove to be all that advantageous though where there are more than one dock where deliveries are made. In that case, it would take a large capital outlay to fit these mechanisms to each dock. The solution to this problem is in a device that allows a single person to move a dock plate easily, quickly and efficiently by himself.